Buy Plants Online from your favourite local florist.
When it comes to getting started with your garden, you have two choices; planting seeds, or buy plants online from Cape Town’s favourite florist and gift shop, Fabulous Flowers. Both have their own benefits. If you plant seeds and care for them every day, you will find it is a much more rewarding experience when you have a full, healthy plant. However, this method is a lot riskier. I can’t tell you how many seeds I’ve planted and never seen any trace of whatsoever.
If you choose to buy the plant from a nursery and install it in your garden, it reduces a lot of the work involved in making it healthy. However, I have found in the past that many incompetent nursery workers will absolutely ruin the future of the plant by putting certain chemicals or fertilizers in. I have adapted to this incompetence by learning to choose the healthiest plant of the bunch. Here I will discuss some of the techniques I use in my screening process for plants.
It may sound superficial, but the one thing you need to check for on your prospective plants is how nice they look. As far as plants go, you can truly judge a book by its cover. If a plant has been treated healthily and has no diseases or pests, you can almost always tell by how nice it looks. If a plant has grown up in improper soil or has harmful bugs living in it, you can tell from the holey leaves and wilted stems.
If you’re browsing the nursery shelves looking for your dream plant, you want to exclude anything that currently has flowers. Plants are less traumatized by the transplant if they do not currently have any flowers. It’s best to find ones that just consist of buds. However, if all you have to choose from are flowering plants, then you should do the unthinkable and sever all of them. It will be worth it for the future health of the plant. I’ve found that transplanting a plant while it is blooming results in having a dead plant ninety percent of the time.
Did you know that if you buy plants online you get exceptional quality? You can buy gifts for Cape Town delivery and the freshest and most beautiful bouquets fo flowers delivered the same day.
Always check the roots before you plop down the money to purchase the plant. Of course, if the roots are in absolutely terrible condition you will be able to tell by looking at the rest of the plant. But if the roots are just slightly out of shape, then you probably won’t be able to tell just by looking at it. Inspect the roots very closely for any signs of brownness, rottenness, or softness. The roots should always be a firm, perfectly well-formed infrastructure that holds all the soil together. One can easily tell if the roots are before or past their prime, depending on the root to soil ratio. If there are a ridiculous amount of roots with little soil, or a bunch of soil with few roots, you should not buy that plant.
If you find any abnormalities with the plant, whether it be the shape of the roots or any irregular features with the leaves, you should ask the nursery employees. While usually, these things can be the sign of an unhealthy plant, occasionally there will be a logical explanation for it. Always give the nursery a chance before writing them off as horrendous. After all, they are (usually) professionals who have been dealing with plants for years.
So if you decide to take the easy route and get a plant from a nursery, you just have to remember that the health of the plants has been left up to someone you don’t know. Usually, they do a good job, but you should always check for yourself. Also, take every precaution you can to avoid transplant shock in the plant (when it has trouble adjusting to its new location and therefore has health problems in the future).
Choosing the Best Plants for your Cape Garden
Many times we buy plants on impulse then find there is nowhere in the garden that really suits them. Before buying plants carefully examine your garden to see how much sun and shade it gets, whether the soil is well drained or waterlogged and whether your aspect is sheltered or windswept. You'll then be equipped to go and buy the best plants for your situation; shade-loving plants for the sheltered areas, sun-lovers for the warm spots, drought-resistant plants for the parched areas which may be either sunny or shaded, and swamp plants for the poorly-drained parts.
But wait! Test your soil first, to determine the pH level of your soil and what kind of nutrients you need to add if any. Is the soil acid or alkaline? Most plants prefer soil that is slightly acidic, but there are some that must have alkaline soil to grow. You can alter the soil's pH level, but it's much easier to simply plant for the soil you have.
Now you are ready to plant. Well - almost. Will you plant in groups or singly? If you buy 'one of everything' your garden may seem rather spotty. Group plantings are organized, harmonious and you can vary the color for interest.
Before planting out, place your chosen plants around the garden bed in their pots to see how they will look. Re-arrange them until you are satisfied. Grouping plants in sets of threes or fives usually looks better than planting in groups of even numbers. Be sure that you have an interesting combination of colours and textures of plants. Tall plants should go to the back, or the centre if your garden will be viewed equally from all sides. Try to keep your plants away from trees. The roots of trees are fiercely competitive and will steal all the nutrients and moisture meant for your flowers.
The right colour scheme is one way to maintain harmony in your garden. Imagine the colour of the flowers when they are in bloom. Some colours may clash with others, but can still be planted side-by-side if they have a different blooming season. Foliage colour is also important. Many flower plants have silver, grey or purplish foliage that is just as attractive as the flower. This means that they are still attractive well past the blooming season and so have added value.
Some of our favourite Fabulous Plants to buy online include:
Indoor And Organic Gardening: Excellent Ideas How To Start It
Organic gardening is a hobby that can give you many benefits. A supply of chemical-free herbs for cooking, a detoxified air inside the house, added beauty and décor to your home, and a significant reduction of stress level, are all benefits of having indoor organic gardening. Aside from these, it can be very fun and exciting to tend to your own garden inside your home.
If you want to have indoor organic gardening, there are many herbs and plants that are easy to grow. You can find them at the local nursery or even through online sites. They can be mail ordered and delivered right at your doorstep. Specifically, the following 8 kinds are great examples of plants that you can grow indoor.
The weeping fig is a plant that is known to survive even with little yet tender care for long periods of time. The chamaedorea palm is a great plant to lend a décor atmosphere inside your home especially if you prefer a tropical theme. The Chinese evergreen is perfect for homes that come with low-light conditions. Just like the two, it doesn't require major maintenance, making it a great choice for beginners in gardening.
The Boston fern on the other hand is placed by many inside a bathroom or at a greenhouse as it loves high humidity and doesn't require feeding a lot, once a month will suffice. Another one is English ivy, which can be hung on topiaries or baskets making it very ideal for beautifying to your home. The same with a peace lily, but this variety is an excellent air purifier while providing great blooms and greenery to the house.
The cactus combo bonsai is a fantastically unique plant variety that adapts easily to temperature and moisture level changes making it ideal for any home indoor garden. It is also the nature of a braided ficus tree, but being an adaptable variety of trees it doesn't need big fuss for it to survive inside the house.
When it comes to indoor herbs, they require special maintenance care but when you see them grow the rewards are remarkable. For them to thrive properly and healthily, most varieties of herbs will need to be exposed to full sun for six hours every day. The soil will need to be enriched and the container must have perfect drainage.
Some of the popular indoor herbs include lemongrass, which you can grow by cultivating a stalk in a container or pot with few inches of water. The mint leaves are excellent tea and must be grown separately from other herbs as this variety of herbs can be more invasive than the others.
The chive, on the other hand, requires a lesser amount of light than the others while the parsley and bay tree are both slow-growing herbs but always worth your wait as they are great herbs to have on hand for your cooking activities. There are other varieties of herbs that you can grow indoor, like sage, thyme, oregano, cilantro, basil, and rosemary.
Organic indoor gardening is such a wonderful and rewarding activity that anyone can have. With the many benefits it provides, there is no reason for you to procrastinate on this idea. You will definitely see it when you start to reap the full benefits.
Indoor Gardening: An Environment-Friendly Thing
Gardening doesn't only make your home beautiful but likewise provides you with an outlet to relieve yourself of worries and anxieties. Men and women alike are engrossed in this kind of hobby whereas some of them earn profits out of growing the best plants in their yards. However, the common problem that gardeners face is that of the weather and climate, weeds, and of course, the parasite attack. Not only that, but the use of chemicals may also bring harm to the environment. That is why there is an effective substitute for it and that is no other than indoor gardening.
The Benefits of Indoor Gardening
Gardening inside your home has lots of benefits. For one, it is eco-friendly. What does that mean? Basically, it is a very environment-friendly way of detoxifying the air inside the premises of your home. It also allows you to come up with chemical-free herbs for your use in the kitchen. It acts as a décor to your home. And not to mention that it is truly stress-relieving to find an indoor garden within the confines of your abode.
A lot of people all over the world are so enthused into trying their luck at indoor gardens. When made as a hobby, one can definitely enjoy it while feeling very much productive as well.
Easy to Grow Plants for Your Indoor Garden - Buy Plants Online from Fabulous Flowers
There are people whom we usually call the green thumbs. Meaning to say, their lucks are in full swing as they try their level best to grow different plants. This is not however a common talent of many people. Some are termed as black thumbs. Call it luck or coincidence but some plants just die fast with them.
But don't fret because here are some very easy to grow plants or herbs for your indoor garden. You may consider them the latest additions to your home ornaments and natural air cleaners as well.
The Weeping Fig. The plant is basically hardy and will definitely survive even when you don't exert much time and effort in taking care of it.
The Chinese Evergreen. If your home has low-light conditions, this is an ideal plant to grow because it doesn't require too much maintenance. It is also ideal for the beginning gardeners.
The Cactus Combo Bonsai. They are unique yet ideal for any kind of climate because they can easily adapt to the changing moisture level and climate conditions.
The Chamaedorea Palm. It fits well into homes that have tropical themes.
The Braided Ficus Tree. It doesn't require much maintenance either and easily adapts to an indoor setting.
The English Ivy. This comes as a fantastic choice for topiaries or hanging baskets.
The Peace Lily. It acts as a great air purifier that likewise results to the best blooms and greenery.
The Boston Fern. Ferns don't require much of feeding. You can even do that once in a month and they since they basically love high humidity, they can be placed inside a greenhouse or a bathroom.
So, don't you think it is time you try your hands at indoor gardening?
Buy plants online and Cape Town’s most beautiful flower arrangements for same-day delivery. Order gifts for Mother Day and just to say "Thank you" to inspire and bring joy to your friends, family, clients, and colleagues | Shop Fabulous Flowers.